3 Mindset Shifts That Will Help You Move Up Poker Stakes

If you're an ambitious poker player, you want to be moving up stakes.

Yet a lot of players get stuck. They fly through the low-stakes, cruise through to mid-stakes, then they hit a wall. They end up stuck at the same stakes for years, when they know they are capable of so much more.

If that sounds like you, this one's for you.

Now before we get into it, two things need to be true before you even think about shot taking.

#1: You have a big enough bankroll to play your current stakes AND a buffer to shot take.

#2: You are already a winning player at your current level.

If either of those isn't true, this newsletter isn't for you yet. Go build your bankroll, come back when you're ready.

Alright, now let's assume you've got the bankroll and you're beating your current level.

The goal in poker is simple: become a winning player at your level, build your bankroll, then shot take the level above. Rinse and repeat.

Here's are the three mindset shifts that will allow you to shot take successfully.

1. Build Your Self-Belief

When players get stuck at a level, they build a narrative around it. "I can play here, but the level above is tough. Those guys are really good. I'm not ready."

That story is the problem.

Self-belief comes from two places. Evidence, meaning your results at your current level. And belief, meaning the version of yourself you're growing into. When you're shot taking for the first time, you have zero sample at the new level. Your mind fills in the blanks. It can go to "this is going to be too hard" or it can go to "I will figure this out."

If you're a $200 player trying to shoot $500 games, start instilling the identity that you are becoming a $500 player. You're on the path. You're learning. You're getting better.

Belief is often subconscious. It's that quiet narrative in the back of your mind saying "I can't do this, I’m not ready, it’s too hard." You have to catch it and replace it. You've already got proof you can win at your current level. Use that. And trust that you can learn the rest.

Do you believe you can beat the level above? If not, do you believe you can get good enough?

That's all that really matters.

2. Widen Your Time Horizon

This is where most players blow it.

You shot take with five buy-ins, you're buzzing, you're ready to show everyone what you've got. So you ned up putting a ton of pressure on short-term results. Then you lose those the five buy-ins, and you come crashing back down feeling like a failure.

Here's the mindset shift: stop trying to break into a new level in one shot take.

Give yourself six months. Seriously. Six months to break into a new level. That changes everything. You can try and fail without it meaning something. You can learn. You can rebuild and go again.

When I was shot taking heads up sit and goes from $15 through to $1Ks, I got destroyed every single time I jumped a level. And for a long time it felt brutal because I was treating every shot take like I had to prove myself immediately. As I got more experienced, I changed the frame. My final shot take into $1Ks took eight months. January to August, playing most days against the best guys, slowly getting to the level that was required.

Fifty shot takes is not failure. That's fifty opportunities to learn.

Rebuild when you lose. Drop back down, build the bankroll, and go again. No big deal. You have time.

3. Lean Into Adversity

This one is the hardest, and it's also the most important.

At some point during a shot take, things are going to get brutal. Maybe it's a your biggest ever downswing. Maybe it's a disastrous session that has you questioning everything. When that happens you've got two options.

Play the victim. "Why is this happening to me? When will it end? Why am I so unlucky?" Which gets you nowhere.

Or lean into it. "Alright. Bring it on. I can handle this."

Resilience is the skill of recognising that when things get hard, that's not a sign to stop. That's the character building phase. You can't skip it. You can't go straight from shot taking to being established at the next level without going through the hard part first.

The players who eventually break through are the ones who keep showing up when everyone else turns back. Variance can beat you for months. But if you're improving, getting better, and you refuse to stop showing up, you will find your way through. You just keep knocking on the door until it opens.

Build a track record with yourself of doing hard things. Physical challenges. Mental challenges. Prove to yourself over and over that you're someone who doesn't quit.

The 3 Skills You Need To Work On

#1: Self-belief: Believe you can get to the next level. If you're not good enough yet, believe you will get good enough.

#2: Perspective: Give yourself six months. Lower the pressure. Give yourself permission to fail and figure it out.

#3: Resilience: Adversity makes you stronger. The harder it gets, the tougher the version of you on the other side.

Work on these three things while you're shot taking and you will grow into the player you want to become. There's no cheat code here. I'm giving you the work. The way to keep showing up when other players fold and go back to their old level.

If you've failed a shot take 20 times and you're starting to tell yourself it just doesn't work for you, drop that story. 20 is not enough. Try 50 times and come back to me.

It's a game of constantly improving.

Keep getting better and find a way.

You’ve got this.

Adam